~ Chapter 2 - 10:12am ~

“Let me go, Jake! There is no reason to manhandle me like this,” she complained, hitting his back, although it wasn’t doing much good, and truthfully, she should know better. He paused, and for a brief nano-second, she thought he was going to put her down. But then he took a step back away from the door, shut it, and finally sat her down on her feet. “What the hell?!” With that, she turned around and yanked the door back open, the quick gust of wind smacking the cold and the snow right into her face. Her eyes glanced upward at the darkening clouds and she gasped.

“We won’t make it back to the hotel,” Jake said and she rolled her eyes. ‘No shit, Sherlock,’ she thought to herself.

“Did the forecaster have any idea how long this might be?” Jake lifted a brow at her question and she just shrugged. She might have issues with her ex, but she wasn’t always dumb not to buy the things he said. She also saw those clouds, knew how they could be, and knew that was a blizzard rolling in.

“No, there was no time limit,” Jake muttered.

“Great,” she said, the back of her head hitting the door, “I don’t want to be stuck with you! My brother would be better than you!” He crossed his arms and stared her down.

“You think this is fun for me? To be stuck in this place with you and your snooty ass? News flash Rachel, I don’t want to be here anymore than you do, got it? I came up only at the request of your brother but it’s not like I did this on my own.” Rachel narrowed her eyes at him. Sure, she had her issues with Jake, and had them since way before high school, but she still thought he might have given a damn about her, not just because she was his best friend’s younger sister.

“I get it, Jake; you hate it here as much as I do. I’m sorry I didn’t leave when you wanted me to, but we still wouldn’t have made it back to the hotel. That storm moved in way too fast and we would have been stuck out in it before we even got back.” He rolled his eyes and walked back into the living room to sit down.

“I saw the firewood was full, did you do that?” he asked after a few moments of silence. ‘Oh, that’s right,’ she thought, ‘he didn’t do well with silence.’

“Yeah, I cut some as soon as I got here. My parents don’t usually leave a lot in case it gets damaged. And we hadn’t bought any logs to replenish those either.” She twisted her lip and then looked around the cabin. “Might as well turn a lot of the lights off, not like we’re going to be using them and if that blizzard is as bad as it’s saying, we’re going to lose what little power we have anyway.” She walked over to the kitchen, making sure the connection for the backup generator was okay for the refrigerator, and then flicked the lights off in the kitchen.

Rachel glanced out the windows at the clouds and shook her head. She didn’t want to be stuck here any more than he did. Well, no, she did, she just didn’t want to be with him. And she wasn’t a fool; she knew he didn’t want to be here with her. He never wanted to be around her, she knew that well enough. She wrapped her arms around herself as she took a steadying breath. What sucked all the more is that the house wasn’t ready for more people. Three of the four rooms were crammed with stuff and only one bed was ready to sleep in, one fireplace in the bedroom ready to use. She wasn’t expecting company so she hadn’t thought she would need the room. And as nice as the cabin was, Jake couldn’t stay in the living room, not with a blizzard rolling through; it would get too cold for him.

“I take it the rooms aren’t open yet, huh?” he asked.

“No, just mine.” She chuckled and turned around to look at him. “Which you’re more than welcome to join me in.”

“Sleep with you? Thanks, I rather drink acid.” Rachel once more narrowed her eyes at him. He was good with his angry darts to toss her way but she could never quite figure out why he hated her so much. Besides all the times in high school he protected her, or even that one time they got drunk…up here. She blew out a breath and nodded. That one time could be why he was pissy.

“Look, I don’t want to play nice with you any more than you want to play nice with me, Jake. We both dislike each other, it’s clear, but for as long as this storm is here, we both have to be here. I’d rather not spend all the firewood using two fireplaces. And it’s not like the fireplace would keep you all that warm at night if you slept in the fucking living room. But, please, do whatever you want, it makes me no never mind to me. I sure wouldn’t mind telling Jay that his best friend froze to death because he wanted to be the biggest numb nuts possible.” With that, she went to her room. She needed a moment to breathe and to process. Not the fact of the blizzard, she knew what to do there, but being here with Jake for any length of time.

On a whim, she walked over to her landline and lifted it, hearing the static. Great, the storm had already buried the towers enough that the landlines weren’t working. Of course, she was smart enough to know they wouldn’t have been, but it was still a hope. And since the cell service was spotty at best, she knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything now but check her time. And if they lost power, she had no means to charge her phone. Which meant that Jake didn’t either.

With that thought, she hung her head for a moment before going into Jay’s room to grab both an extra charger and a blanket. She made her way to the living room, seeing Jake up and looking out the window in the living room. He had opened one of the blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows and leaned against it as if he was watching the snowfall. She cleared her throat and he quickly turned around, glancing at the stuff in her arms.

“The landline is already down so I know the power won’t be on too much longer. The generator is set up for the fridge, but that’s it. I brought an extra cord so you can try to charge up your phone before you can’t anymore. And some extra blankets because it won’t stay too warm in here.” She offered him a small smile but when he didn’t say anything she just sat the stuff in the chair. He was an adult; he could do what he needed to. Rachael turned to walk out but his voice stopped her.

“How many blizzards have you handled?” Was that a trick question? Because there wasn’t an answer she could give honestly, that he would like. As far as her family knew, and she would assume Jake knew this too, she had only ever come up with her ex. What she hadn’t mentioned to them, or anyone was that all but one time, had he come up. If they ever found out that she had more than a dozen trips up here solo, they would be livid with her.

“Uh, I can’t....really say, Jake.” She watched as he tilted his head to regard her and he knew he was thinking.

“No, that can’t be. Because Jay has only ever talked about being in a blizzard twice. And Rachel, you don’t come up unless it’s with family.”

“Not true, I was up with Tim quite a few times!”

“And I repeat my question. You’re handling this blizzard like a champ, knowing what to do, what’s going to happen, not being worried, and there is no way you can be like this after just a couple of blizzards.” Well, he had a point there, she figured. The first time she came up alone, the cabin was stuck in a horrible three-day blizzard and she had a freakout. Thankfully, she managed to calm herself down to do what needed to get done and she had sworn she wouldn’t be alone again. But sure enough, the next time Tim asked, she came up and he ditched her, and she was stuck dealing with a lighter blizzard.

“I can’t tell you that, Jake.”

“Why? Something you don’t want to share?” Rachel shook her head and wrapped her sweatshirt tighter around her. Just from the blinds being open, she could feel the coldness creeping in. “Rachel, I won’t tell if that’s the problem.”

“Yeah, right,” she snorted at that. He had told her that before and then went and told her parents. She never trusted him after that.

“Promise this time.” He moved away from the window, grabbed a blanket, and sat on the couch, patting the spot next to him. She finally sat down, her eyes glued to the light falling flakes and she was glad he left them open.

“I’ve probably experienced a good half dozen, alone.” She dropped that last word and turned to look at him. He wasn’t dumb; he could work that out in his mind. And she watched as he did and once he got to the conclusion that he did, his jaw clenched and his eyes burned with anger. She couldn’t deny what that look stirred up inside her, or how she felt a wave of desire wash over; neither being a good thing given how those feelings are what caused their previous issue.